Method of evaporating produced water

ABSTRACT

In accordance with the present invention, problems related to produced water management are addressed. The proposed produced water evaporation system incorporates several simple components in a closed system to achieve a safe and effective produced water reduction alternative that can be efficient and sustainable on active natural gas well pads.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method for handling produced water on a natural gas production well pad.

2. Description of the Related Art

Produced water management has become a key challenge for most Exploration and Production (E&P) companies. Produced water is the water recovered from well flowback operations. There is limited demand for produced water since it can only be reused in select well completion and workover operations. Furthermore, the volume of produced water in the Appalachian Basin, for example, far exceeds the amount required for these processes. For these reasons, there is little to no demand for produced water. E&P companies are forced to transport produced fluids to disposal or recycling facilities or to shut-in wells entirely. This results in drastically increased operational costs, slowed development operations, and a complex water transport strategy.

Current technologies for produced water reduction include distillation, reduction through evaporation and solids disposal. These water reduction processes are still being developed and refined by several companies (see “Hydro Recovery”, “Logic Energy Solutions”, “Epiphany Water Solutions”, and more). Shortcomings of many of these designs include, but are not limited to, system complexity (both mechanical and electrical), specialty parts and maintenance, small water quantities/rates, and power demands.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, problems related to produced water management are addressed. The proposed produced water evaporation system incorporates several simple components in a closed system to achieve a safe and effective produced water reduction alternative that can be efficient and sustainable on active natural gas well pads.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects and attendant advantages of one or more exemplary embodiments and modifications thereto will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a process flow diagram of an exemplary produced water evaporation system 100.

FIG. 2 illustrates a series of production tanks for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system.

FIG. 3 illustrates an evaporation chamber for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system.

FIG. 4 illustrates an evaporation chamber with pre-heat treatment units for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system.

FIG. 5 illustrates firetubes in the interior of an evaporation chamber for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and “mounted,” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. In addition, the terms “connected” and “coupled” and variations thereof are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings.

The proposed process contrasts current systems on the market through its complete system of metering, filtration, chemical adsorption, water softening, evaporation, and/or fluid recirculation. It should be understood that, although each of those steps is a possible alternative, not every step is required for the present invention. Each step should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis regarding the influent brine stream conditions (brine profile and TDS, emissions requirements for local/state jurisdictions, etc.). The proposed process is a simple, emissions-friendly method with a no solids, “heavy brine” byproduct that can be used for recirculation into the system as well as well control and/or well completions applications when stored on location. Potential benefits include: reduced produced water volume, little to no produced water volume taken to saltwater injection wells, reduced water truck traffic on state and local roads, fewer spill incidents on roadways and residential areas, lower risk of spill incidents, reduced complexity of transportation/disposal strategies, and reduced operational costs from trucking, disposal, and spill incidents.

Referring to FIG. 1, produced water from the wells may be stored on location in a series of production tanks 110. The water may be gravity fed and metered into the evaporation system. Water metering may be accomplished using an electromagnetic flow metering device 115 (also called a “magmeter”), which is able to meter the flow of a fluid without restricting flow or affecting pressure.

After leaving the production tanks 110, the water is passed through filtration baskets 120 to remove any particulate debris and/or suspended solids. Two or more filtration baskets 120 are preferably installed in parallel. In a preferred embodiment, the filtration panels filter out particles that are greater than or equal to 25 microns (μm). The filtration panels remove non-dissolved solids in the brine stream prior to pre-heat and evaporation to improve heating efficiency and decrease potential for solids build up in valves, feed piping, on the firetube exterior, etc. After the produced water leaves the filtration baskets 120, one or more pneumatic diaphragm booster pumps 125 are used to maintain flow through the rest of the system. In a preferred embodiment, two such pumps are installed in parallel. For maintenance on the system, filtration baskets 120 may have to be periodically cleaned. Empirically, it has been shown that the filtration baskets 120 require cleaning or replacement every 10-15 days, although maintenance times may vary based on particulate density in the produced water stream, flow rates for the stream, and size of the filtration baskets 120. Installing in parallel enables redundancy and allows for the system to continue operation even while one element of the system is shut down for operational maintenance or cleaning. An example of a commercially available filter includes Filterzone PO25P2S—Polypropylene Felt Filter Bag.

The produced water may be passed through a chemical adsorbent housing 130 to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the produced water stream. By using a chemical adsorption process step, up to 99 percent of VOCs may be removed from a fluid stream. An example of a chemical adsorbent housing 130 may be an activated carbon bed. Such products are commercially available from a number of suppliers, including Calgon Carbon Corporation of Moon Township, Pa.

The water may then proceed to a water softening unit 135 to remove any calcium (Ca²⁺) and/or magnesium (Mg²⁺) ions which can potentially lead to scaling and blockages in the system piping. The chemical adsorption and water softening may be optional. Factors that may determine whether one or both of those steps are required may include the chemical composition of the produced water, the chemical composition of the steam output, applicable regulations related to the disposal or processing of produced water, applicable regulations related to facility emissions, the degree of buildup or scale seen in equipment (often an indicator of hard water), operating requirements for the equipment used in the evaporation system, or others. The degree of chemical adsorption and/or water softening required may be determined based on an extended brine analysis (ORO, GRO, TDS, general chemistry, etc.).

The filtered produced water then continues on to pre-heat treatment unit 140 where the fluid stream is heated prior to entering the evaporation chamber 145. The inlet produced water temperature to the pre-heat treatment unit 140 is largely based on the ambient temperature and the operating temperature of the evaporation system, and the output temperature of the produced water is preferably between 120-150 degrees Fahrenheit. A burner management system (“BMS”) may be used to ensure that the output temperature remains within this preferred range, regardless of the ambient or input temperatures The pre-heat treatment unit 140 allows the evaporation chamber unit 145 to operate more efficiently and reduce heat energy requirements and overall fuel gas consumption. Finally, the produced water proceeds from the pre-heat treatment unit 140 to the evaporation chambers 145 through flow valves 142.

The evaporation chamber 145 may be configured as a tank that includes a heating source, such as a firetube 150, which heats the water above the point where evaporation begins to occur. The water is not fully evaporated in the evaporation chamber 145; empirically, it has been found that roughly 70-80 percent of the tank water on a mass flow basis may be evaporated in the evaporation chamber 145 for ideal operation. The produced water may have particulates that are suspended in the water that increase the water's density and weight. If all of the water were evaporated, then the non-evaporated particulates would cause build-up and scaling within the evaporation chamber 145, which would then necessitate periodic maintenance and potential shutdown of the system and potentially require large volumes of potentially hazardous salt disposal.

Other methods of produced water handling currently in use do fully evaporate the water, leaving only solid particulates. The present invention is different from those existing systems in that it only evaporates the water until a heavy brine remains in a fully liquid form which is removed from the bottom of the evaporation shell. As shown in FIG. 1, the heavy brine outflow may be metered and recirculated into the inlet fluid stream to aid in pre-heat treatment unit 140 through the use of booster pump 160. Alternatively, as also shown in FIG. 1, the heavy brine may be sent to isolated heavy brine storage tanks for use in drilling/completions operations using the valve bypass 155.

Water has a certain capacity for retaining suspended particulates, and after reaching a certain saturation density at a specific temperature, the particulates will begin to precipitate and cause sedimentation. Experimental results have shown that if the density of the heavy brine is kept at or below 10.2 lbs/gallon, then sedimentation or nucleation can generally be avoided. When the density of the water in the evaporation chamber 145 reaches approximately 10.2 lbs/gallon, then the heavy brine may be evacuated from the evaporation chamber 145 and new water from the pre-heat treatment unit 140 is allowed to flow in. A Coriolis flow meter 165 may be used to monitor the real-time density of the liquid in the evaporation chamber 145.

FIG. 2 illustrates a series of production tanks 110 for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system 100.

FIG. 3 illustrates an evaporation chamber 145 for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system 100.

FIG. 4 illustrates an evaporation chamber 145 with pre-heat treatment units 140 for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system 100.

FIG. 5 illustrates firetubes 150 in the interior of an evaporation chamber 145 for use with the exemplary produced water evaporation system 100.

In an alternative embodiment, instead of (or in addition to) a chemical adsorbent housing 130, chemical scrubbers (not shown) may be located on the evaporation stack column for the burners 150. The chemical scrubbers may remove VOCs from the steam exhaust that passes through the evaporation stack column.

Although the concepts disclosed herein have been described in connection with the preferred form of practicing them and modifications thereto, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that many other modifications can be made thereto. Accordingly, it is not intended that the scope of these concepts in any way be limited by the above description. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of evaporating produced water, comprising: filtering produced water to remove particulates suspended in the produced water; pre-heating the produced water in a pre-heat treatment unit; evaporating the produced water in an evaporation chamber comprising a tank and a heating source and configured to receive produced water from the pre-heat treatment unit and further heat the produced water; and removing the produced water from the evaporation chamber once a heavy brine is formed.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of recirculating the heavy brine through the pre-heat treatment unit.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of passing the produced water through a chemical adsorbent housing.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the chemical adsorbent housing comprises a bed of activated carbon.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of passing the produced water through a water softening unit.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of pre-heating the produced water further comprises heating the produced water to a temperature between 120-150 degrees Fahrenheit.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of removing the produced water from the evaporation chamber is performed when the heavy brine formed by the evaporation chamber has a density equal to or less than 10.2 pounds per gallon.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the heating source is a firetube. 